Josh Campbell - 17 Sept

Crossfire Hurricane

Inside Donald Trumps War On The Fbi

Josh Campbell

ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL

To the men and women of the FBI,
both past and present,
whose professionalism remains unparalleled.

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.
Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark

When youre attacking FBI agents because youre under criminal investigation, youre losing.
Sarah Sanders, spokesperson for Donald Trump

A s the door of the Gulfstream sprang open, a frigid blast of winter air filled the cabin of the jet. The hissing of its engines soon spooled down to a faded hum, and the security agents on board began making their final preparations for our arrival. They checked weapons, tested radio communications, and ran through the schedule one last time to ensure that every movement was scripted, down to the smallest detail. During this flurry of activity, our main passenger sat calmly in front of me, nodding in rhythm to a John Legend song playing over his wireless headphones.

No turning back now, FBI director James Comey told me with a half smile, a nod to the unprecedented meeting that awaited him.

Two dark SUVs, flanked by police cruisers with flashing lights, pulled up to the stairs of the aircraft, and the lead security agent gave me the thumbs-up. It was only when I hit the doorway that I realized we had pulled directly alongside a Boeing 757 emblazoned with the word trump on the fuselage. I had seen this impressive machine before, during trips that brought me through New Yorks LaGuardia Airport, and on one occasion Id even caught a glimpse of Donald Trump himself, barreling out of a Chevrolet Suburban driven by Secret Service agents, his phone pressed to his ear as he climbed the jets stairs, no doubt on his way to yet another campaign stop as he attempted to overcome long odds in a vitriolic election cycle. But now, as I stood there staring at a gigantic airplane with the Trump name painted in gold, I couldnt help but marvel at the showmanship and branding skills of the man who had just been elected leader of the free world. For Comey, it was now time to meet the new boss.

It was January 6, 2017, two weeks before Donald J. Trump would take the oath of office and assume the role of commander in chief, responsible for protecting the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Comey had flown to New York to join his counterparts in the national security community to brief the president-elect and his transition team on their findings on actions the Kremlin had taken to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.

Whether countering terrorists seeking to kill innocent Americans, identifying cybercriminals probing our critical national infrastructure, or uncovering foreign spies working to undermine our sacred electoral process, the mission of the men and women of the US intelligence community is a deadly serious one. The four men who traveled to New York that morning had spent nearly their entire adult lives working to protect the United States from foreign adversaries. They would now channel their expertise into a briefing intended to equip the incoming chief executive with the knowledge and tools necessary to counter an ongoingand seriousthreat to the nation.

But the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had one additional duty that day, something the chiefs of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence would get a pass on. For months, a series of memos had been privately circulating among members of the media and across government that contained unverified but explosive charges against then candidate Trump. As the world now knows, Christopher Steele, a former officer with the United Kingdoms Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), had been contracted by a private investigative firm to look into Trumps background. Steele, a veteran operative, drafted a series of memos describing information about compromising material that Russian intelligence services had purportedly obtained on Trump. In addition to outlining allegations of illegal business practices that might result in Russia having leverage over Trump, the Steele dossier, as it would become known, also included tawdry alleged details of Trumps sexual proclivities and illicit acts conducted while in Moscow. At one point, Steele thought the information so potentially damning that he approached the FBI and provided it with his reporting.

In fact, Steele was not the only one concerned that Trump might be in a compromising position with the Russians. Two powerful Republican senators had already separately approached the FBI director expressing their dismay at the revelations the former British spy had possibly unearthed. In November 2016, when Comey was speaking with legislators on Capitol Hill, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) pulled Comey aside to warn him of something very troubling. Their conversation had gone unreported until now.

There is some material circulating, Burr whispered cryptically. It has some disturbing things in it. I just want to make sure youre tracking.

We are, Comey said.

I dont need to know any more about it, Burr said, expressing his respect for the FBIs independence in addressing possible counterintelligence threats. I just felt like I needed to make sure you were aware.

Then, in December 2016, Senator John McCain called our office and indicated that he needed to come see Comey. He brought with him a single envelope, the contents of which were a mystery to us as the senior statesman slowly walked past me and down the long walkway into Comeys office.

He had returned from the annual Halifax defense conference in Nova Scotia, Comey later told me, and someone he knew had given him Christopher Steeles material. He had read it enough to realize he needed to give it to me.

I dont know what to make of this, McCain had told him, but I know enough to know you should have it. You dont need to talk to me about it ever again.

Thank you, Comey responded. He did not acknowledge that the FBI already had the same material.

The four intelligence chiefs decided Comey should brief the incoming president on the salacious material one-on-one, both because the FBI had originally received the information and because Comey was the only one in the group who was guaranteed to remain on the job when the new administration came in. (Unlike the heads of the other intelligence agencies, the director of the FBI serves a statutorily mandated ten-year term, and Comey was in year three.) Conscious of the personal embarrassment this sensitive brief might cause the president-elect, the FBI director opted to discuss it with Trump separately at the end of the larger briefing on Russian interference.